Knurl is an electroacoustic cello that offers to its musician the practice of diverse voice control, where each sound can be independently maintained and led by different sound techniques on-the-fly. It is a result of a personal impression towards the standard music practice, where artistic quality can become a synonym of integration, inclusion and diversity thinking by allowing different perceptions and hierarchies into music composition design.
Knurl was invented, developed and designed by Rafaele Andrade.
Knurl Quartet is a one year residency in collaboration between Gaudeamus, instrument inventors initiative, Knurl lab and Rewire. As well as an ensemble and individuals, we are researching, discussing and making music while reflecting on our background of playing cello and our wider artistic practices.
Hydra Ensemble is an electroacoustic quartet based in Rotterdam. It features Nina Hitz (cello), Lucija Gregov (cello), Gonçalo Almeida (double bass) and Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek (electronics). The ensemble is a juncture of four distinctive expressions finding common ground. Together they form a four-headed entity that emerges from highly pensive collective improvisations, creating an intricate patchwork of concurrent melodic lines, textural explorations and expansive drones. The quartet’s sonic language exists on the cracks of free improvisation, minimalism and experimental foreboding ambience. Hydra Ensemble's sonic language is as ominous and majestic as the multi-headed Greek mythical animal they're named after.
'Environmental Dialogue' is a sonic performance featuring 9 musicians playing improvised music in a large outdoor space. The music performed is inspired by the score 'Sonic Mediations' written by Pauline Oliveros. She was an American composer, accordionist and creator of 'Deep Listening' practice. 'Sonic Meditations' were published in 1974. It is one of the most seminal works of the late 20th century avant-garde music. The score contains twelve text pieces for various groups and instruments. In an attempt to tackle the questions of where does the music come from and how can it be realized, Sonic Meditations departs from traditional musical notation. The focus is brought to the cognition of sound by means of making, imagining, listening and remembering. Part VIII of the score titled Environmental Dialogue sets conceptual framework for the performance. It emphasizes social power of sound and extended recognition of its sources as well as new ways of interacting with our surroundings and each other.
Musicians: Pau Sola Masafrets, cello Nina Hitz, cello Lucija Gregov, cello Maya Felixbrodt, viola Christine Cornwell, violin Miriam de Boer, violin Geerte de Koe, violin Jonathan Nagel, double bass Gonçalo Almeida, double bass
The performance was realized with The Orange Tree art project space.
In 2021, Inexhaustible Editions sublabel Edition FriForma is starting a long-term research, recording and publishing project to explore and reveal the sonic attributes of spomeniks of the former Yugoslavia (those now can be found in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and in North Macedonia) by asking local instrumentalists – mainly young but remarkably talented professional musicians working locally or internationally on the fields of free improvised or contemporary composed music – to play sounds on-site, and to find the most responsive or fascinating sounding parts of the monuments. Besides the intentional sounds produced by musical instruments, we intent to document the immediate surroundig's unintentional sounds as well via environmental recordings. Each year we plan to visit, examine and reflect on at least three or four monuments through field trips, recording sessions and eventually, audio publications. By now, we have gathered more than twenty locations with emblematic spomeniks that are relevant to our Sounding Spomenik project.
The first part of collection of recordings will be released at Inexhaustible Editions label in 2021.
Re#Sister is a community of female/femme/non-binary people exploring the world of electronic music and sound. WORM Rotterdam’s electronic studio is our home base. This growing collective of sound artists has been actively present in Rotterdam’s underground art scene for approximately two years. We are constantly encouraging each other to explore our own artistic practice and to nourish the creative energy that reaches beyond the fear of being subversive, very subversive. Re#Sister had several live collective performances, hosted artists from abroad, organized workshops, produced radio plays and self-published numerous articles, essays and zines. Our focus and aim it so learn from each other and to create a place of connection with other artists working on the fringe of music industries.
Performances:
Strings & Attachment feat. Mabe Fratti, WORM, NL, October 2021
Fem Fest, WORM, Rotterdam, NL, March, 2021
RE#SISTER presents Tumblewash, WORM, Rotterdam, NL, July 2020
Corporal Whispers, Varia, Rotterdam, NL, June 2020
RE#SISTERs make radio play, WORM stdio, Rotterdam, NL, October - December 2019
RE#SISTER showcase at Le Guess Who, Utrecht, NL, November 2019
Ma (間) is a Japanese term which can be translated as ‘gap’, ‘space’ or ‘pause’. In artistic practice, it is interpreted as a concept of negative or empty space, often holding as much importance as the rest of an artwork. In our sonic project, we are exploring the experience of ‘space in between’. This refers to both physical space in which sounds are manifested and to an interplay between silence and sounds produced by musical instruments and various other objects. We aim to offer to the audience the space to embark on a personal inner journey through enhanced listening experience. By means of our instruments - cello, voice and small objects we form a sound environment that offers recognition and association with our own feelings - in nature, society, everyday life and fantasy. We will perform compositions by Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, James Tenney, Morton Feldman, Jürg Frey as well as improvised music. These concert series creates time for reflection, exploration, awareness and experimentation for audience and musicians.
The project was sponsored by 'Fond Podiumkunsten'.
Cataclisma Improvisation Festival is a space dedicated to improvisation and musical research. The dissemination of musical experimentation and the connection of the outskirts of Rovigo (IT) with European and world cultural centres are its main and core aims.
I was featured as one of the performing artists at the festival's 2020 edition. The recordings of the performances have been released as podcast episodes including interviews with musicians.
In the current social climate, where precarity is a dominant mode of existence, unpredictable encounters are the ones that transform us. We are being remade every time we interact as our points of meeting and departure constantly shift.
cTrL is a sound exploration of two artists (Tisa Neža Herlec (voice) and Lucija Gregov (cello)) united in the condition of being vulnerable to each other. While being sensible to the world, we wonder what else can we do, other than observe carefully the environment around us? By following instinct and matters of our personal relevance, this collaboration evolves as an open-ended gathering. It allows us to ask about common concerns, causes and effects without assuming them beforehand. Because of inability to rely on stable structure, we wonder who is in control? Are we really in control of ourselves?
We embrace improvisation as a skill to deal with whatever is happening to us in the experience of performing while being listened to and watched.
Performances:
Kulturni Evro, Kino Šiška, Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2021
When We Become Motionless, We Are Elsewhere, Rotterdam, NL, September 2020
Community Works Theathre Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 2020
Exhaustion as a Condition of Existence, Helsinki, Denmark, May 2020
cTrL & BARDAS, Batavierhuis, Rotterdam, NL, May 2020
Musica Dispersa: Women in Experimental, Amsterdam, NL, April 2020
Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee radio, Amsterdam, NL, March 2020
Not For Profit Art Party, Rotterdam, NL, February 2020
Other Ways of Watching Together, MAMA Gallery, Rotterdam, NL, February 2020
